Paula Abdul. Photo: Wiki Commons.

Israeli President Shimon Peres met Tuesday with international music and dance star Paula Abdul, who is visiting Israel as a guest of the Ministry of Tourism. The two met at the beginning of her visit to Israel during which she will tour sites in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and northern Israel and learn more about Israeli society, fashion, dance, theater and music.

During the meeting Abdul, an observant Jew who has never visited Israel and has announced she will have a bat mitzvah ceremony at the Western Wall, said, “I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude to be here, I’ve wanted to come for years. My career took me many places and this is my first vacation in almost eight years that I’m actually here to sight-see like a regular tourist.”

“My family was here and they were crying, overwhelmed with joy that I’m here. It’s such an honor, I know already when I have to leave I won’t want to.”

Abdul is expected to spend 10 days in the country that in 2006 she told an American Idol audience was her “dream” to visit.